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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



BIBLE SCENES 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 



E. J. H. 







NEW YORK: 
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 

38 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET. 



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BIBLE SCENE, No. i.— OLD AND NEW. 

A NARROW valley, or deep cleft through a beautifully 
wooded country ; a swift river, that rushes over its rocky 
bed, on to the sea ; trees of foreign growth along its banks, 
closed in on each side by high hills clothed with verdure. 

Coming up the valley, returning to his home, a traveller is 
seen, a kingly man in costly dress, but rent and stained as if 
in recent strife. Lost in thought he moves slowly on, until 
arriving at the river's ford he stops, and seems as if gazing 
down the coming years. Suddenly a man in Priestly robes 
stands before him. He looks like one in whom is lodged the 
very power and wisdom of Jehovah, yet a man bound by 
closest ties to every other man. In his hands are the mystic 
emblems — bread and wine. Now the hands are raised in bless- 
ing, as the traveller bows in homage and offers gifts. 

A thousand years are past, and the name appears in Mes- 
sianic Psalm. Again a thousand years, and beside that rapid 
river, a great crowd has gathered. Tall reeds, rocks and sand, 
and wild stony hills have changed the valley to a wilderness. 
All ranks are there — priest and peasant — soldiers with helmet 
and sword, mothers with infants, sailors from distant ports, 

wild Arabs, shepherds and traders — all attent, gazing upon a 

(5) 



6 BIBLE SCENES. 

tall, slight man, with face bronzed by sun and wind, his long 
shaggy hair — uncut from childhood ; over his shoulders a rough 
cloak, secured at the waist. He stands on a ledge of rock at 
the river's ford, and with impassioned voice and action, de- 
nounces, exhorts, entreats, as now one, now another, now a 
group, receive from him a mystic sign, then gather round him. 
There is a hush. His eagle eye discerns among the crowd, 
yet apart from it, a young man in peasant garb, who draws 
nigh, and stands beside him. His long flowing hair is in color 
"like the gold of Ophir." There is that in him that attracts 
and binds one as by some magic force. Love and power seem 
to flow out from the very face and form — a form of majesty, 
yet of graciousness ; a face, soft, appealing, full of love and 
holy purpose, yet with all the power of command and will. 
The loud, stern tones of the teacher's voice become low, sweet, 
and tender, as he seems to plead with the stranger. 

Note. — For one instant of that pears in the Person of Christ, con- 
far-off history, Melchizedek stands secrated a Priest, by the word of 
before us, in the grandeur of his Jehovah, and the anointing of the 
character and office, and in imme- Holy Spirit at his baptism, 
diate relation to the Most High. Rev. J. Thompson, D.D. 
After two thousand years he reap- 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 2. 

^1 rE are in the farthest bounds of the Asian world, shut in 
from the nations around, by mountain ranges on the 
north and a dry desert of sand and rock on the south ; the great 
sea on one side, deserts impassable but by caravan on the 
other. One long stretch of mountain country, intersected by 
winding, steep, narrow valleys, yet everywhere well-watered, 
and fruitful as the Garden of Eden. In this land, prepared by 
God, the story of a race begins, unrivalled in the world's his- 
tory. It is four hundred and fifty years after the deluge, 
nineteen hundred before the coming of the Christ. We come 
by a mountain path, winding here and there, to a plateau that 
rolls up into hills, and still higher hills, swelling into mountain 
ridges that skirt the horizon, their snowy heads glistening in 
the sunlight. There is no highway of travel, no fence or en- 
closure. The virgin soil is rich in pasturage for the thousands 
of cattle and sheep that, gathered into droves, each in the care 
of herdsmen, are seeking shelter from the noonday heat in the 
shadows of the hillsides and the dark shade of olive groves, 
native palms, and great oaks, scattered over the plain. Half- 
hidden under these trees are hundreds of small black tents, and 
here, on the western side, overlooking the encampment, under 

a giant oak that casts shadow one hundred feet around, is a 

(7) 



8 BIBLE SCENES. 

large, double tent, open in front. Its richer appointments, the 
tall, feathered spear before it, the beautiful Arab mares pick- 
eted near, tell us that the grand old man seated there is the 
master and owner of all this wealth. He is one hundred years 
old to-day, but his long, flowing beard and whitened hair alone 
tell of age. His childlike trust and repose in the God he wor- 
ships has smoothed away all lines of care from his face. Living 
as in the presence of his God, in constant communion and fel- 
lowship, has brought back to him the image of God. 

To-day, through the noonday glare and heat, he sees com- 
ing to him three men, unattended and on foot. The sheen of 
their flowing white raiment is unsoiled by the dusty way. 
They seem like a bright vision, half unreal. But they are not 
so to the old man in the tent door. He hastens to meet them, 
brings them into the cool shelter, provides for them a royal 
feast, and as he stands to serve them he wakes as from sleep to 
know that the One upon whom the two wait in silent rever- 
ence is no stranger. He is the Presence he has long loved and 
worshipped, whose guidance he has followed all the years of 
his exile. He has seen him in vision, he has entered into 
special covenant with him, a covenant and promise sealed by 
solemn sacrifice. From yonder hill he can see the valley 
where, returning from victorious war, he first m»et him face to 
face, as Priest and King, and received from his hands the bread 
and wine, the symbol and shadow of his atoning sacrifice two 
thousand years after. 



BIBLE SCENES. 9 

And now again is the promise and covenant renewed. He 
stands with his Lord, looking down into that lovely valley em- 
bosomed in verdure, the rich fruitage creeping up the hills on 
either side of the river, and pleads with him as friend with 
friend, and is granted all he asks. 

Dawn is breaking over the mountains. The old chieftain 
rises early and seeks the place where yesterday he stood. The 
valley lies there in its beauty and stillness, its waters sparkling 
in the morning light. On the plain beyond, behold ! the two 
silent, white-robed visitants of yesterday hastening the reluc- 
tant flight of four figures he but dimly sees. Even as he looks 
a black cloud gathers over the plain ; flames burst from be- 
neath, and rising to heaven, fall back in sulphurous rain, and 
" the smoke of all that fair country goes up like the smoke of 
a furnace." 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 3. 

IV/f ORNING at last ! The stars have gone out of the sky, 
the sun has flashed radiant to the zenith, and sends down 
its first fiery rays out of the cloudless white It lights up with 
sudden splendor the marble palaces of a royal city, and the 
lowly roofs of its toil-worn and suffering serfs. It falls on the 
dark waters of the river, and they sparkle in rose and silver 
sheen. 

There, amid the rank growth on its banks, a lovely infant 
slumbers, and close beside, hidden by sheltering trees, a little 
girl stands watching. Not yet has the morning light chased 
away the terrors of the darkness, for the night has been damp 
and chill, and to her quickened sense, all horrid things have 
come up out of the waters at her feet. Since midnight she has 
stood there, fearsome and alone. 

Many years are past. The sun has set upon a countless 
multitude, encamped by the shore of a great sea. It is mid- 
night ; there arc sounds on the air, sounds as of a mighty 
army, rushing horses, and mounted men, and clanging armor, 

and before it a flying host on foot, unarmed, undisciplined, 
(10) 



BIBLE SCENES. 1 1 

slavish with fear. And now with the morning light a voice is 
heard over the sea, and that proud army in all its brave array 
has gone down before its breath. The voice of the waters 
mingles with the song of the rescued host, led by the prophet- 
ess of God, and by the chosen leader and commander of his 
people — the little girl and the babe by the river-side. 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 4. 
Part I. 

A WIDE plain, rich in all the vegetation of the tropics. 
The green flush of spring in the deep shadows, and crim- 
son tints on the near mountains that surround this garden of 
the East. 

Rising like an amphitheatre from the plain — a city of pal- 
aces ; its busy, crowded streets, shaded on both sides with tall, 
graceful palm-trees. In the gardens the low, many-branched 
pomegranates, with their bell-shaped, reddish blossoms inter- 
mingled with the fragrant balsam and rich, flowering oleander, 
spikenard, and myrrh and camphire, with all sweet spices, fill 
the air with sweet odors. 

It is a walled city, with watch-towers and buttresses, and 
watered by three great streams from the mountains. Farther 
out, near the suburbs, are groves of fig and olive trees ; the 
houses are more scattered, and one so close against the city 
wall, you can step from its upper window upon it. Just here, 
outside the wall, are deep ravines, choked with jungle and 
canebrake, leading up to the mountains. 

It is a lovely day in April. Two men in foreign dress leave 

this house, or inn, and walk through the city, noting the size 
(12) 



BIBLE SCENES. 13 

and strength of its walls, lingering beside street groups of 
excited talkers, until suspicious looks are turned to them, and 
they hasten back to the inn. They hold hurried counsel with 
its mistress, then she leads them to a hiding-place. 

There is a loud knocking at the door ; a mob of excited 
citizens have traced the strangers to the inn. Quietly the 
woman turns their search another way. She has left the girdle 
of hej loose dress with the two men, and securing it to the 
casement they escape over the wall, through the tangled pass, 
to the mountains. 

Part II. 

A SWIFT-FLOWING river, famous in the history of an ancient 
people, owners, by gift, of all the land, on both sides, from the 
mountains to the sea. They are encamped — a great host — on 
its eastern bank. On the other side rises the proud city ; 
sentinels are doubled on its walls ; eager, terrified groups crowd 
the streets, the house-tops, the towers. 

The camp is in motion. Six hundred thousand men march 
down to the river, swollen now by the spring rains, and rolling 
in dark, troubled surges far over the plain. 

Look ! an invisible hand has heaped the waters to one side, 
and down into the bed of the river, and up the western bank 
the whole army pass and encamp before the doomed city. 

Days go by in imposing religious rites, and again the tread 
©f the mighty host is heard. Forty thousand stately warriors 



14 BIBLE SCENES. 

lead them on. Priests, in richly embroidered robes, each with 
a silver trumpet, go before a mystic symbol, held aloft with its 
purple pall. Sixty thousand armed men close behind it. The 
trumpets sound, and the great army moves on ; no sound 
is heard, save their heavy tread and those trumpet tones. 

Successive days the besieged look out upon this vast, silent 
procession. The Sabbath dawns, the whole host join in the 
solemn march. There is a sudden hush and halt, then a long 
trumpet blast. With arms thrown aloft, the leader gives the 
signal cry, and, like the roar of many waters, bursts forth from 
myriad voices the glad, exultant shout. 

The earth trembles, heaves, the massive walls lie prostrate. 
Out, through the dead and dying, a woman and her friends are 
led to the victors' camp. 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 5. 

'T^HE youngest in a family of ten, his name (in its significance 
The Beloved) is borne by no other in sacred history ; 
tenderly loved by his father and only sister, he is tyrannized over 
and disliked by his brothers — bold, handsome, reckless men. 

The boy is beautiful, slight and sinewy, his feet like the 
hinds upon the high places of the hills. Living for many days 
and nights in the open air, he sees in calm and storm and starry 
sky, the Divine power and presence, and his wondrous gift of 
song has strengthened, soothed, and cheered as none other in 
all time. 

He leads a varied life. Now roaming the wild uplands with 
hit flocks ; now (yet a boy) in attendance upon the king ; again, 
a child in his father's house ; yet again honored at court ; the 
idol of the people, their anointed Leader ; now hunted through 
the land, an outlaw for years, yet keeping his child heart 
through all. 

It is a wild scene we look upon ; a dark, cavernous gorge, 
hid in the face of a cliff ; a beetling wall of rock rising high 
above; a wild descent of rock and ruin deep below. The air 
within is close and oppressive ; four hundred grim warriors are 

gathered round their young chieftain, tossing restlessly upon the 

(15) 



1 6 BIBLE SCENES. 

rude bed they h^ve made for him ; fever burns in every vein, 
his Hps are parched with dust and thirst, visions of his boyhood's 
home — but a few miles away — come to him. He longs for the 
cool, bright water from the well by the gate. 

Out of the cave, and down the steep and stony track, three 
mighty men run swiftly, cutting their way through an armed 
garrison as they near the well. And now, by aid of sling and 
helmet, they bear back the precious draught. But to that royal 
heart it has become sacred as the blood of sacrifice. 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 6. 

T17E go back in time — two thousand five hundred years — and 
stand upon the battlements of a city famous in Eastern 
story. Her walls, inclosing a vast plain, are sixty miles in cir- 
cuit, of immesne height and thickness, surmounted by two hun- 
dred and fifty towers, a city of one hundred brazen gates, finely 
wrought in pictured history. Through the centre of the city a 
great river flows, spanned by a bridge of solid masonry, at each 
extremity of which rises a palace, seeming with their gardens to 
cover miles of ground. A city symbolical in the Apocalypse for 
wickedness, cruelty, pride, luxury, and idolatry. By river and 
by caravan she controls the commerce of all the Eastern world, 
and by conquest and traf^c has gathered to herself the wealth 
of all lands. 

In the great plain, on this day, are gathered Ofilicers of State 
the world over. From lands most remote they have come, of 
every shade of complexion, in all styles of richest attire, to pay 
homage to the ruler, who holds in his one person a world-wide 
monarchy. 

His statue, covered with plates of gold, from which the sun's 

rays are reflected back with dazzling splendor, rises ninety feet 

above the heads of the multitude summoned to attend the 

solemnity of its dedication. 

(17) 



1 8 BIBLE SCENES. 

On one side, but in sight of the monarch seated on a throne, 
elevated above the crowd, we see a court or square, cut in the 
natural rock, making a wall on three sides, open in front. In 
the centre is the place of fire, the oven, in which the great statue 
was moulded. Around the vast arena the orchestra are massed, 
with all manner of instruments known in all lands. 

A trumpet blast, and the mighty host standing in solid 
column as they rank, are hushed to silence. A herald proclaims, 
as the test of allegiance, the worship of the statue, deified in the 
person of the monarch. To refuse is treason. 

And now the shock and crash of sounds, like an in-rolling sea, 
lifts and bows prostrate toward the idol, the whole vast assem- 
bly. Three men alone stand erect. Their nearness to the throne, 
the richness of their robes of brilliant and various colors, the 
embroidered girdle and turban, the chain and signet ring, are 
badges of high office in the service of the monarch ; their noble 
bearing and rare beauty is that of a foreign but royal race. 

The king commands, and the men are brought before him. 
The ordeal is repeated, and the answer comes; they will wor- 
ship no god, but the God of their fathers. What stays the 
king's wrath ? Once more the test shall be tried ; they may re- 
cant. Unmoved, untroubled, they meet it. To them there is 
but one God. The world is looking on, " Will their God deliver 
them ? " See them bound, all unresisting as they stand, and 
thrust into the centre of the heat, fanned to fiercer flame. 

What sees the monarch ? " The angel of the Lord comes 



BIBLE SCENES. 19 

down and smites the flame of the fire out of the oven and makes 
the midst of it as it were a moist whistHng wind," and the four 
walk unharmed within the wall of fire. In the solemn awe 
and hush, the king again commands, and the three stand 
before him. 

And now the decree goes torth. And the great multitude 
of every language take back over all the earth the first faint 
knowledge of the one living God — God the Saviour, 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 7. 

Part I. 

'T^WO men — wholly unlike each other — chosen and set apart 
by God to do his work in times of great wickedness and 
great suffering. 

One — a lonely man, living apart from men — in the solitudes 
of the desert, or the caves of the mountains, faring, no one 
knew how ; his long shaggy hair, and a cloak of skins his 
clothing ; feared by all, hated as well as feared by the wicked 
king and his heathen wife — hunted as an outlaw, but never 
found ; yet when unsought, appearing to rebuke and warn, and 
departing unharmed ; never but once asking a favor, and then, 
of a poor woman of another country ; challenging to contest 
four hundred revilers of his faith, and gaining a signal victory. 
His going out of the world was unlike that of other men, and 
his name for years is linked with every event in church and 
state. Eight years after, a letter written by him is brought 
to the reigning king, foretelling his fearful death. Nine hundred 
years after, the typical prophecy of his return is fulfilled. 

Part II. 

This stern, strong man standing almost alone amid the 

profligacy of the times, has one devoted follower and friend, 
(20) 



BIBLE SCENES. 21 

who inherits his sole earthly possession, his spirit and his mis- 
sion. He is a gentle, kindly man, in dress and manners like 
other men, living like them in a home of his own. The coun- 
sellor of the king and chief men of the nation, yet often sharing 
with the poorest their rude lodging and hard fare. Giving up 
all his worldly estate for the service of God, he yet attains to 
great honor and distinction, using his influence to heal, and to 
bless. Directing the schools of his order, he inspires them with 
his own zeal. Living in close communion with God, he saves, 
by the power given him, three armies from perishing of thirst, 
and feeds one hundred men with a few loaves of barley bread. 
One instance of severity in the beginning of his work, kept 
unmolested his long after-life. One strange event, a year from 
its close, is chronicled six hundred years after, in the legends 
of his people, thus : 

" No word could overcome him, 
And after his death, his body prophesied : 
He did wonders in his life. 
And at his death, were his works marvellous." 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 8. 

TIE is a Prince, of royal line, born in exile, brought up at 
court in the land of his captivity, promoted to personal 
service for the king ; yet learned in the lore of his own people, 
and devoted to the faith and traditions of his fathers. In a 
heathen country, the centre of the world power, he remains a 
devout worshipper of the one true God. 

The royal banquet is over for the time, the revellers are 
gathered in the garden court, or reclining on ivory couches, 
inlaid with gold and silver, in the grand colonnade, open to the 
sky. The floor is of variegated marble, curtains of finest 
damask and brilliant colors hang from the polished pillars. 

The king and his beautiful queen are within the palace. 
The young Prince enters with a jewelled cup that he washes in 
their presence. Pouring some wine into his left hand, he 
drinks it, and filling the cup, presents it with courtly grace to 
the king. 

The dark eyes of the young man tell of a sadness he does 
not seek to hide. Suspicious of harm, the king questions him. 
Emboldened by the presence and sympathy of the queen — like 
himself an exile — and by swift heart-appeal to the God he wor- 
ships, he prefers his request. 

It is the pleasant spring-time ; provided with letters of 

(22) 



, BIBLE SCENES. 23 

credit and an armed escort, our young Prince has made the 
long, perilous journey to the land of his fathers, once powerful 
and renowned, now an obscure province of the great empire he 
serves. 

Midnight ; a single horseman with a few attendants, passes 
silently through the dark, narrow streets of the city, out and in 
through its broken-down gates, taking a secret survey of its 
ruined walls and towers, until forced to return, by the piles of 
loose stones that give no foothold to his beast. 

With the morning dawn, the elders of the city are as- 
sembled ; credentials are shown, large contributions are freely 
made, women leading in the gifts. Detachments of men, each 
under its leader, begin the work of rebuilding, by solemn 
religious ceremonies. 

And now come dissensions and evil rumors from without. 
Half the builders are withdrawn for sentry duty ; even then 
workmen are armed. Our young ruler is among them, ever 
watchful day and night, a trumpeter beside him to give warn- 
ing of alarm. Refusing the princely income from his govern- 
ment while absent from its duties, he yet supplies from his 
own resources the daily wants of one hundred and fifty of his 
most destitute subjects. 

By his undaunted courage and vigilance, he defeats the 
plots of open violence or stratagem of his enemies. Inspiring 
his workmen with his own religious zeal, the walls are raised 
upon their old foundations in fifty-two days. 



24 BIBLE SCENES. 

And now the sacred city — the city of the Great King — is 
dedicated anew to him, as its rightful Ruler. In solemn cere- 
monial the leading authorities, with a great orchestra, sum- 
moned from all parts of the country, and a vast concourse of 
people, march in imposing procession around the walls, pausing 
at intervals to engage in united prayer and praise. 

At the central gate, the princes of the people, the priests 
and musicians are divided into two companies, and ascending 
the walls, walk, one to the right, the other to the left, with 
responsive chant, and the music of silver trumpets, meeting at 
the house of God, which they enter with solemn service and 
great rejoicing. 

And so for twelve years our Prince is active reforming 
abuses, fortifying the city, sanctifying holy things, making pro- 
vision for the religious instruction of the people, and the 
permanent support of religious service. Recalled for the 
second time to his place at court, he returns again, to give his 
latest years to work for God and his country. 

In the legends of his people it is recorded that he sought 
and found the sacred fire hidden at the first destruction of the 
city and restored it to the altar in the holy place ; and that he 
collected and endowed a library, to which he added his own 
memoirs, that remained until the final overthrow of the city, 
more than five hundred years after. 

And so endeth the story of the last historian of Bible times, 
before the advent of the Christ. 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 9. 
Part I. 

A VAST plain, rich in historic memories, the battlefield of 

almost every nation under heaven. 

Standing here, amid the ruins of a once royal city, we see 

the open space by its gates where its haughty, wicked queen 

met her dreadful death, and trace the scene of many a battle 

over the whole plain. 

On that level ground, to the south, are grouped (more than 
three thousand years ago) nine hundred war-chariots and 
horses, with the princes of an invading army ; on that higher 
ground are the vast host of their armed men. Before their 
camp flows the peaceful river, noted for all time in the war- 
songs of an ancient people, the rightful owners of the land. 
On that hill are mustered ten thousand of their mighty men 
under a female commander. They meet in battle ; and now a 
storm bursts from the east, blinding the invading foe. The 
mountain torrent swells the river, turns their camping-ground 
into a swamp, and throws the countless host into wild and 

inextricable confusion. 

(25) 



26 BIBLE SCENES. 

Fifty years pass. Hordes from the desert come up, numer- 
ous as the sands of the sea. The peaceful dwellers of the plain 
flee to the caves of yonder mountain for safety. At its base, 
beside its mountain stream, their leader tests his men. 

It is midnight ; and the little band of three hundred, un- 
armed, march silently down to the enemy's camp. The signal 
is given ; trumpet-sound and rallying-cry startle the sleeping 
warriors. They see bewildering, glittering lights, and hear the 
shouts of victory from unseen foes. Panic-stricken, each man 
mistakes his neighbor for his foe, and in wild terror they rush 
headlong down the valley. 

Two hundred years — and again hostile hosts are marshalled 
on the plain. The first king of that ancient race, forsaken of 
God, conscience-stricken, returns from his midnight tryst, weary 
and heavy-hearted. Seven hundred thousand men meet at 
daybreak in the shock of battle. On the heights yonder, that 
noble form is stricken down, and beside him, true to the death, 
his more royal son. 

Four hundred years — and the great battle is fought, typified 
in the Apocalyptic vision. The glory of that ancient people 
fades with the fall of their last great king, held in honor yet by 
yearly memorial rites. 

In our own day, within the century, that first great battle is 
repeated. A vast army is put to utter rout by a few troops on 
their march over that great highway. 



BIBLE SCENES. 27 

Part II. 

It is a sultry day in early harvest-time ; we stand on the 
slope of this hill, overlooking the great highway, where arrhies 
have pitched their tents for four thousand years. 

Troops of reapers are gathering to the cornfields, scattered 
over the plain. Women follow to glean and bind the sheaves ; 
their bright Eastern dress, softened in the morning light, their 
shrill voices mingling with the song of birds as they meet and 
greet each other. At the head of the reapers the master walks, 
leading by the hand his only child. The hours pass, and the 
boy plays among the sheaves, but the sun rises higher and its 
fiery rays fall upon the boy's uncovered head. 

A cool, dark room, the shaded light from a partly drawn 
screen reveals a ceiling broken by great rafters. A tiled floor, 
a few stools with carved legs, a low divan partially covered 
with a fringed quilt or shawl. There sits the mother, alone 
with her dead. 

But now a great hope awakens in her heart. 

With calm, set face she carries the little burden to a small 
room apart on the roof, lays him on the narrow bed, straightens 
the shapely limbs, folds the waxen hands, stands for a moment 
at the small lattice, looking far away across the plain to the 
mountain by the sea. 

She is mounted now, driving fast and hard. Every living 
thing has sought shelter at this high hour of noon. The pit- 



28 BIBLE SCENES, 

iless sun pulses with fierce heat over the shadeless plain. Un- 
heeding she presses on, nor once draws rein. Somewhere in 
that mountain covert is the help she seeks. 

Again — over the hot, dusty plain, the long miles stretching 
on and on, she returns, but not alone. 

And now it is the cool eventide. The boy, in the full flush 
^f health, is hushed into happy quiet by the solemn awe and 
gladness that fills the house. 

Millions of men slain on that battlefield are forgotten as 
they passed away. The soul of one little child given back from 
the land of shadows and silence finds record on the sacred page, 
which is told in story and in song all down the ages. 

** And I say unto you, The hour is coming, when the dead 
shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall 
live. For the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the 
graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have 
done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have 
done evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation." 



BIBLE SCENE, No. lo. 

A LITTLE village, nestled high up among hills that are ter- 
raced in broad steps descending to the valley below, and 
clothed with fig-trees, olives, pomegranates, and vines. From 
their summits can be seen in the near distance the breastworks 
and battlements of strong fortresses, and the clear waters of a 
great sea. 

It is early morning. From one of its flat-roofed, white- 
walled houses a young woman appears, an infant child in her 
arms. Beside her is a man much older. Carefully held in his 
hands is the symbol of a sacred offering. 

The dress of both is a long, loose mantle or cloak, confined 
at the waist by a belt over a tight-fitting undergarment. The 
woman's is of finer texture, blue in color, and reaches to her 
sandalled feet. She is young and beautiful ; her auburn tresses 
flow unconfined ; the long, thick veil but partially covers her face 
and breast. It is gathered up and wrapped about the child. 

Passing down the steep, narrow street, they go out at the 
town-gate, stop at an ancient well, shake the dust from their 
loose garments, and drink of its cool, delicious water. 

They are now in a broad, deep valley, along whose rocky 

channel a stream flows. Now they pass a royal garden where 

(29) 



30 BIBLE SCENES. 

two valleys meet. Mansions, gardens, and palaces rise on the 
hills beyond, and over there in dazzling splendor the royal porch 
of a grand temple, built upon solid masonry sheer up from the 
valley below. They are now in the narrow streets of a great 
city, and thread their way to a long flight of steps leading up 
to a great gate glistening in the morning light. 

Passing through a court in which hang thousands of buck- 
lers and shields of mighty men slain in battle, they come to an- 
other gate, high and massive, richly carved, and glowing as if 
on fire. Through this, and crossing the bright inlaid pavement, 
they ascend low, crescent-shaped steps to a higher court and 
wait. Before them is an inner building of pure white marble ; 
about it many men in priestly garb. 

And now has come to pass the legend told four hundred 
years before, and though unseen, the glory of the Triune Pres- 
ence fills the place. 



BIBLE SCENE, No, ii. 

A PATHWAY, six miles in extent ; old as the hills over 
which it winds ; steep and narrow in its descent ; wild and 
devious under the shadow of rocky cliffs, or broadening over 
the plain. Now but a footpath among the oaks and across 
the green cornfields, where three thousand years ago the moth- 
er of a royal Line, followed the gleaners. At intervals, we 
catch glimpses of a wild landscape, — rugged hills and deep 
glens, and, skirting the horizon, a ruddy line — the crest of a 
walled city. 

Along this road, four thousand years ago, a grand old man 
and his son, in the loose rich dress of the nobles of those times, 
are nearing the end of their journey. As it comes in sight 
they dismount, and father and son go on alone and on foot, to 
the place — now, and for centuries past, and for all time, the 
most sacred and endeared on earth. 

A hundred years and more go by, and we travel this same 
road again, with an old man, returning with his family and 
servants to his father's home. The man is lame, and rides 
beside a litter, upon which is borne a dying woman. He hopes 
to reach the little city, now but a mile away, but here the 
ascent is sharp and steep ; and in that narrow valley the woman 

dies and is buried. 

(31) 



32 BIBLE SCENES. 

Seven hundred years are told, and once more we visit this 
pathway, to find it filled with armed men, seeking a hiding- 
place in the fortresses of its rocks. Mighty men, in mailed 
armor, are in attendance upon their chief, and as the days wear 
on, the aged and the young — men of all ranks — from all the 
country round, gather about him. Scarce fifty years are past, 
and of all that brave army, a few old men are left ; but the 
land, in peace through all its borders, is famed through all 
lands, for its power and wealth and glory, and this tortuous 
path has become a royal carriage-way. 

The years roll on — one thousand years — the glory of the 
nation has passed away. Of all that royal house, a few obscure 
families alone remain. Of these, a young woman, and a man 
much older, enter late one afternoon, this same pathway — the 
last stage of their toilsome journey. A few weeks later, and 
they again tread the path, bearing an infant child. Again a 
few years, and that infant of days, now a man, forsaken, insulted, 
bowed with suffering — the victim of mob riot, civil riot, priest 
riot — is offered up to death. 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 12.— THE HISTORY OF 
AN OLD HOUSE IN BIBLE TIMES. 

TT is a large, stone house, built on stone arches, through which 

the cattle are led to their stalls, or grottoes in the hillside, 
against which it stands, and at the head of a long, narrow, steep 
street that runs up from the ravine below the town. Save a 
low doorway and a small latticed window, it presents a dead 
wall to the street. 

We enter this doorway and find ourselves in a small audi- 
ence-room ; with little furnishing beside the low divan around 
it. A private stairway leads from this room to a wide gallery, 
that extends around and looks down into a large square court, 
part garden, part a pavement of variegated marble. We find 
the house is built around this court ; all its rooms open upon 
the gallery. A second stairway leads to the flat roof and para- 
pet overhanging, and supported by columns. 

The rooms are spacious, some of them richly furnished. 
From the carved ceilings hang curtains of brilliant colors and 
finest texture, drawn or put aside at will. The floors, of pic- 
tured tiles, are covered with rich rugs, as are the low couches 
or divans around the walls. 

To this house, thirty-five hundred years ago, a prince of the 

tribe of Judah brought his foreign bride. She had saved his 

(33) 



34 BIBLE SCENES. 

life, embraced his faith, and forgot in the quiet of her new life, 
and the training of her boy, the sorrows of the past. The boy, 
grown to manhood, takes his father's place and rank. 

It is early harvest-time ; two women have come to the little 
village, and the whole place is astir. Old memories are recalled 
of the one, now feeble and aged, returned to the home of her 
youth, but the fair hair and blue eyes of the younger woman 
tell of her foreign birth. They have come from beyond the 
dark sea, across the rich plains by the storied river, through 
mountain glens and lonely desert paths, to find a home here. 
They are poor and friendless, and the younger stranger toils 
through the long hot days, in the fields of the grave, good 
man, now master at the great house. The days go by and she 
becomes his wife. 

Two hundred and fifty years pass. One day an old man, 
in the garb of a priest, toils up the steep stony street to this 
house on the hill-top. The great-grandson of that young 
stranger, himself an old man, greets him with reverent homage. 
Seven stalwart sons are about him ; his youngest, " the dar- 
ling," is away on the hills. He enters at his father's call, and 
the old priest lays his hands in consecration upon the head of 
the beautiful boy. 

The years wear on with their many changes. The boy, now 
a worn-out, aged man, is laid at rest with his fathers, and the 
whole land mourns for the grandest king that ever filled a 
throne. 



BIBLE SCENES. 35 

Four hundred and fifty years are gone. The land is deso- 
late, her cities and temples in ruin, her king and nobles in cap- 
tivity. In the strong old house, a prophet of their God finds 
refuge. 

Again five hundred years. Cities and temples are rebuilt, 
but the land is under foreign rule. The descendants of its 
kingly race are scattered and impoverished. The old stone 
house, in its decay, has become the village inn. 

The short winter day is closing in, as two weary travellers 
toil up the steep broken street to their ancestral home. They 
find no room. The night air is cold, and groping their way 
through the cloistered arches, they seek warmth and shelter in 
the hillside grotto. 

It is midnight ; the moon has risen, but a glory far above 
its radiance fills the place. All heaven is gazing down, for to 
our sin-burdened earth its Saviour has come, *' Emmanuel, God 
with us." 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 13. 

TT is the bright spring month of the year, the song of birds 

floods all the air, the valleys and plains are covered with 
rich green, and the gray hills are lit up with a hundred glories, 
for it is the month of flowers. 

And it is the season of a great national festival. Multitudes 
have come up to the capital from every part of the land, and 
from lands remote. Three millions of people crowding, strug- 
gling through its narrow streets, filling the houses, camping on 
the house-tops and in the courts. Outside the walls the valleys 
and hillsides are black with tents. 

The one point of attraction, where for a thousand years the 
daily worship has been offered, stands out in dazzling splendor 
against the sky a wilderness of columns, and arches, and courts. 
Built upon a bold, sharp promontory, walled up from the valleys 
on either side, sheeted with gold, it shines resplendent from all 
parts of the city. 

On this day, the 14th of April, the outer enclosure of the 
sacred edifice is changed into a cattle fair, the loud traffic ming- 
ling with the prayer and chant of the inner courts. Amid this 
Babel of tongues, and thronging, jostling crowd of men and 
beasts, the buying and selling, and money-changing going on, a 

stranger enters — a young man in the simple garb of a peasant, 
(36) 



BIBLE SCENES. 37 

but with something majestic in his face and bearing. He looks 
around with indignant sorrow. Strands of hempen cord are scat- 
tered on the marble floor. With a few gathered up, he protests, 
in his Father's name, against the desecration of his Father's house. 

The power and authority of eye, and voice, and action is a 
spell upon the crowd. At the touch of that slender scourge the 
court is cleared. No resistance is offered ; a sudden, mysterious, 
irresistible awe is upon them all. 

The excitement draws from the inner court the ofificers and 
priesthood. Here is one who claims an authority above their 
own. 

In this group of lookers-on is a man of advanced age, high 
in rank and office in college, church, and state. As he watches 
the stranger, memories are stirred of another such sacred festival 
eighteen years before, when, seated in his hall of learning, his 
friends in office around him, a strangely attractive, thoughtful 
boy had entered, and seated at his feet, had asked and answered 
questions with such wisdom and grace that his heart was drawn 
in loving-kindness to him, and held him in close companion- 
ship two days and nights. 

Among the art treasures his great wealth had gathered, were 
relics and legends of their most worshipped king, and this boy 
was of that royal line ; his record was clear. His sacred books 
told of One in direct descent, who should restore the ancient 
glory of his people, and reign a Prince and Saviour over all the 
world. How often he had pored over these records with long- 



38 BIBLE SCENES. 

ing desire for the coming of the Deliverer. In the stranger be- 
fore him, so gracious yet so commanding, he sees the boy never 
forgotten. He had heard of wondrous signs attending the 
stranger's appearing, of wondrous acts, as of one clothed with a 
divine commission, and now he speaks of a life, an eternal life, 
a life he is longing to realize. He must know more ; he must 
see him apart from the crowd. But when ? Where ? 

And now he observes a young man attendant upon the 
stranger, taking no part in his act, but following him with lov- 
ing reverence. He knows the man well. His father, though 
plying his trade at a distance, owns a house near the city wall ; 
the stranger may be found there. A few hurried words, a signal 
of silence, and they are lost in the press. 

The sun has set, the moon not yet risen ; the great lights 
from the temple throw their radiance over the house-tops and 
the more distant hills, leaving in dim shadow the narrow streets, 
where many a weary, homeless pilgrim has sought rest, sheltered 
by the dead walls. Avoiding these, passing stealthily through 
by-lanes and alleys, a man muffled in a long cloak arrives at a 
house near one of the city gates. A faint signal at the low door, 
and it opens to admit him. 

From that young follower, the historian of later years, we 
learn of words spoken by the stranger that night to tlTe anxious, 
doubting, but honest seeker after the truth ; words that have 
changed the life and destiny of millions, and gone forth with 
might and healing to every nation under heaven. 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 14. 

CTANDING on the shore of a small inland sea, six hundred 

feet below the ocean level, and looking along the rocky 

valley that forms its basin, there come to us echoes from the 

old Hebrew seers: 

" The Lord thundered from heaven, 
And the Most High uttered his voice, 
The mountains saw him and were afraid, 
The everlasting hills did bow. 
The tempest of waters passed by. 
The valleys were cleft as wax before the fire." 

In a far past age some great convulsion of nature must have 
reft apart this long chain of mountains, that falling to the east 
and west, left this deep hollow, now a lovely lake, crystal-like 
in its clearness, fringed with flowering oleanders, and alive with 
boats. On either side vast plateaus, to a great height, spread 
backward and upward. Cities upon the hills — the hollows in 
the hillsides set with hamlets, vineyards, groves of figs, olives, 
and fruits of every clime. The landscape on this side is full of 
life ; towns, cities, and villages crowd the shore, full of a rest- 
less, busy people ; terraced hills, covered with trees, higher hills 
rising beyond. Across the lake a long strip of pasture-land, be- 
yond which rise distant hills, gray, barren, and desolate. 

(39) 



40 BIBLE SCENES. 

Just here, at the head of the lake, in a region of unequalled 
beauty, lies a little city, the halting-place of travellers from the 
farthest boundaries of Caesar's empire. The great Roman road 
bends here, over which pass the caravans to Italy, India, Scythia, 
and Ethiopia, opening the markets of the world to the products 
of the vineyards, orchards, and fisheries of the lake. 

To this busy little city a stranger has come, whose mysteri- 
ous claims and wondrous acts of power and of healing are 
rumored all over the land. His home is with two of his follow- 
ers, in one of those small, whitewashed houses by the sea. The 
low door opens into a large, low room, with no furnishing save 
a few stools that serve as tables, and a bench or divan around 
three sides, covered with rugs, the common resting-place, by day 
and night, of all in the house. 

Yesterday the crowds around it and filling the narrow streets 
all the long day, pressed heavily upon the stranger, whose sim- 
ple word, or the touch of whose hand brought healing to the 
sick and life even to the dead. Evening came at last, but the 
rest he needed could not be gained in the stifling air of that 
crowded room, and long before day he sought the solitude of 
the seaside for strength and prayer. 

The dawning light this morning revealed him walking upon 
the narrow beach ; a man of middle size, in the dress of his time 
and country. A square of white linen covers the long hair that 
falls in wavy luxuriance to his shoulders. A seamless tunic 
reaches to his sandalled feet ; over this a long, blue robe or cloak, 



BIBLE SCENES. 41 

with loose, flowing sleeves. His features are of the Grecian 
type, blended with the Jewish into a perfect beauty, that 
awakens reverence and love. His eyes, whose keen glance seem 
to read all hearts, are softened, as if looking through tears. 
There is about him a native dignity and grace, like one who 
knows himself a King. A man, apart from men, yet as one tak- 
ing the whole world to his heart. 

The fishermen are coming in from their night's toil on the 
lake, and the busy multitude are astir in the town. They shout 
to each other and are answered back in loud, harsh tones, which, 
mingled with the sharp, high voices of the women as they meet 
and greet each other, make a very Babel of tongues. But now 
they descry the stranger, all else is forgotten. They gather 
closer and closer about him, until pressed to the water's edge, 
he steps into a boat, and resting on the swaying seat, patiently 
and kindly talks to the rude or curious, or earnest multitude on 
the land. It is a motley crowd. Peasants and priest ; Greek 
merchant and Roman soldier ; the blind, and lame, and sick of 
yesterday, now in the full vigor of health. From the common 
forms of life around him he gathers truths that will live and 
grow with quickening power, changing customs, thought, and 
life, until the will of God, as done in heaven, becomes the pat- 
tern of life on earth. 

The heat of noon scatters the crowd, and the stranger re- 
turns to the house, where the simple noonday meal is spread — 
thin cakes of barley bread, a few olives, or figs, perchance fish 



42 BIBLE SCENES. 

from the lake, cooked in oil — but his followers gather about him 
with other earnest seekers after truth, and give him no leisure 
to eat. Through the sultry afternoon he continues to teach 
them, and evening finds him once more at the seaside. In the 
gathering darkness, overpowered by the need of rest and 
sleep, without food or added raiment, he seeks the quiet and 
solitude of the eastern shore. At last he can lay his weary 
head upon the steersman's seat and sleep the deep sleep of 
exhaustion. 

It has been a warm, bright day in early spring, but the night 
grows chill. They are in the midst of the sea, and a sudden 
tempest sweeps down with fierce fury upon the lake. The icy 
wind and sleet beat about the rowers with such force, no effort 
of theirs can bring the boat to shore at any point. The foam 
of the breakers dashes over her and covers the stranger with the 
spray ; yet he sleeps on, undisturbed by the darkness and tem- 
pest. They are strong men, accustomed to the oar, but the 
wild wind howls down through the mountain gorges with resist- 
less fury, and sweeps them far away from their course. Their 
strength is exhausted, the danger becomes extreme. Wild 
voices mingle with the shrieks of the winds and the dash of the 
waves and fill them with terror. Their cries awake the sleeper. 
He rises in his calm majesty, gazes out into the darkness, and 
his voice, above the raging of the tempest, with the Almighti- 
ness of conscious power, rebukes the Evil Spirit in the winds 
and stills the waves to rest. The stars shine brightly down from 



BIBLE SCENES. 43 

the clear sky, the awed boatmen bend in silence to the oar, and 
the little vessel glides swiftly over the placid waters. 

Who is this man, but now so worn and weary, so human in 
his needs, who, standing on the sinking ship in the darkness of 
night and tempest, by one word rules to silence the raging fiend 
in the storm and hushes the sea to rest ? Again echo from the 
Hebrew prophet answers : 

" Unto us a child is born, 
Unto us a Son is given, and 
His name shall be called Wonderful, 
The Mighty God, the Prince of Peace." 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 15. 

^HE air is sharp and chilly this winter morning, as three 
men start at daybreak for a rapid walk of six miles, to 
reach their trysting-place at noon. The rough stones over 
which lay their path are slippery with frost, but as the sun rises 
higher, the slime from melting ice, and clay soil, taxes all their 
strength to keep a sure footing along the tortuous path that 
leads them over hills, and steep descents, through narrow 
passes, and freshly ploughed fields. 

The last hour's walk is over. A wide plain, broken by the 
plough, lies bare and shadeless in the sun. Just where the 
mountain range is cleft from summit to base, and at the en- 
trance of the vale between, is an ancient well, by which they 
stop to rest. 

One of the travellers can go no further. The toil of days 
and nights in his chosen mission has not dimmed the match- 
less beauty of face and form, or ruffled the heavenly calm of 
his spirit, but he is faint and weary, and he knows that here 
will be gathered his first harvest from an alien race. 

His companions are of coarser mould, hardened to greater 

endurance. Leaving him beside tl^e well, they walk on to the 

city yet a mile away. His eyes follow the path they take up 
(44) 



BIBLE SCENES. 45 

the valley. A few weeks, and the terraced hillsides that now 
present but bare walls, and shelves of brown earth, will be 
robed in glorious beauty of waving green, and ** precious fruits 
brought forth by the sun." He sees the place beneath the 
oaks where nearly two thousand years before the great father 
of their people erected the first altar to Jehovah in that land, 
and where he, that weary stranger at the well, met and blessed 
him. 

On that same camping-ground, the old chieftain's grandson 
dwelt with his family, and servants, and flocks, and sunk the 
well that yet bears his name. And here, in after years, the son 
of his old age paused to drink of its cooling water ; then with 
boyish haste went on his father's errand up that path through 
the parted hills, never to return in life. Yet, for more than 
three thousand years his cofifined dust has lain buried here. 

Midway up the valley, the stranger had seen the symbol of 
his covenant with this people, the centre of a great host of con- 
quering tribes. On this side and on that, three hundred 
thousand voices, answering to as many more, while along the 
heights rolled the responsive Amen. And here their Leader, 
in the last act of his life, gathered the Princes of his people 
and erected in solemn covenant a witness of their allegiance to 
the one true God. 

And now this silent noon, when no one else is abroad, a 
woman comes along to draw water from the sacred well. The 
stranger resting there knows it has no hidden charm to ease 



46 BIBLE SCENES. 

her troubled conscience, and he would take the weary weight 
and set her free. 

And still from his lips, over all the world, the words are 
sounding forth — " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and 
drink " — and still those other voices are heard catching up and 
re-echoing the call — " Whosoever will, let him come and take 
of the water of life freely." 



BIBLE SCENE, No. i6. 

TT is afternoon at the close of an eventful week. In and 
around the crowded city the millions have been stirred to 
wild excitement. To-day strange rumors are abroad ; people 
hurry past with scared faces, or gather in little groups about 
the streets. They do not notice one or two men who, as they 
wind their way through the crowd, signal by word or look 
many they meet, and that these, quietly, somewhat stealthily, 
pass on and enter a house near the city gates. It is late this 
afternoon, and two men of the company there convened take 
leave of their friends, and are returning to their country home. 
The trees are in full leaf, the hawthorn is laden with blossom 
and fragrance along the Roman highway, for it is the sweet 
spring-time. In the valley they now enter, flowers of every 
hue fringe the cliffs of white limestone ; crimson anemones and 
white daisies are a carpet under their feet. But they pass un- 
heeding ; they do not see a stranger who has joined them. He 
speaks, and as they walk he talks long and earnestly. They 
half resented the stranger's greeting, but now they listen in 
silence, pressing nearer to him, with eyes aglow and thoughts 
too big for utterance. The village home is reached, the three 

enter. 

(47) 



48 BIBLE SCENES. 

Scarce an hour is past ; the two men are hurrying back 
over the same road, quiet and deserted now. They seem like 
men distraught ; now in silent musing, now making the hills 
echo with their glad song. As they near the city they break 
into a run, and gain an entrance before the closing of the 
gates. 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 17. 

CEVEN men, bound to each other by the strongest ties of 
loving companionship and of loyalty to their Commander, 
have come at eventide to the shore of a great inland sea, where 
a small vessel and a boat are anchored. They have passed 
through strange scenes in a distant city, and now they are at 
home, awaiting their Master's promise to meet them there. 

From the beautiful beach upon which they stand may be 
seen nine Roman and Greek cities. The sea itself, lying in 
a deep' basin sixteen miles in extent, bears upon its bosom many 
ships of war and many of commerce, carrying fish of the choicest 
kinds, wine, wheat, fruits, and oil, the produce of its ports, to 
the markets of the south. A Roman road, five hundred miles 
in length, touches here by the sea, then bends to the south. 
Stretching along this road are caravans laden with merchandise 
for the oldest city in the world. 

Numerous villages and hamlets dot the surrounding hill- 
sides, that are terraced to their tops with trees and vines, save 
where the watercourses have cut deep ravines and wild gorges, 
through which the winds from the mountains sometimes rush, 
lashing the peaceful sea into sudden storm. 

The men have entered the larger boat and pushed out from 

(49) 



50 BIBLE SCENES. 

the land, dragging the other at the stern, and night comes 
down upon the scene. 

And now it is the gray dawn of morning, but as yet there 
is no light in the little hamlet earliest awake along the water- 
side, and the weary, hungry men see only the mist on the hill- 
tops as they pull their boat toward the nearest shore. There 
is a glow on the beach, and as they draw nearer a form is seen 
through the glimmering dusk. And now, over the water comes 
a voice clear and distinct in the still morning air. There is an 
instant change in the boat's crew, as with rapid movements and 
in reverent silence the order is obeyed. 



BIBLE SCENE, No. i8. 

TT stands, a tower-fortress, half palace, half castle, built of 
massive rock, with pillared courts, and baths and spacious 
barracks; the foundations of rock, seventy-five feet high, on 
each side a sheer precipice, overlaid with polished slabs of 
stone, giving no hold to foot or hand. Four other towers, of 
less or greater height, surround it. One — the dungeon keep — 
joins the colonnade of a great temple, about which an armed 
guard is always stationed. In and around the towers are bat- 
talions of Roman soldiers under arms. 

In a cell of this high tower that is parted only by a deep 
rift in the precipitous rock from the temple courts, is a prisoner 
in chains. Sixteen armed soldiers, answerable with their lives 
for the safe keeping of this one man, hold watch within its 
guarded and bolted doors. To two of these the prisoner is 
chained. Day by day the thronged courts of the temple have 
rung with the grand symphony of thousands of silver trumpets 
and the choral harmony of chanting voices. And the music 
and the chant and the fragrance of incense have fallen on the 
sense of the lonely captive in the prison tower. But now the 
solemn rites of the last great day of the nation's sacred festi- 
val are ended. The city and the hills around, so lately vocal 

(51) 



52 BIBLE SCENES. 

with rejoicing millions, are silent. The watchmen have taken 
their stand on the temple terrace, and on the castle-fortress 
the Roman garrison have set their nightly guard. The cer- 
tainty that in a few hours now he will suffer a painful death, 
surrounded by a scoffing rabble, scarce stirs the sublime calm 
of the captive, and he sleeps the healthful sleep of a strong 
man, at peace with conscience and at rest in God. 

In the ten years that have passed since he received the part- 
ing commission of his Master, he has faced death many times. 
Each morning's watch, at the same hour of his great sin, he 
has sought renewed forgiveness, and to-morrow he will see, face 
to face, in glad and open vision, his glorified Lord. 

A voice — the touch of a hand — awakes him. The cell is 
ablaze with light. Half entranced he hears the command, 
*' Arise." He stands unbound. Again the voice ; as in a dream 
he obeys, yet sees only the glorious vision. 

The iron doors are locked and guarded within and without, 
but captive and guide have passed through them. They come 
to the outer gate, it opens unseen, unheard by the armed 
watchers, and they stand free of the castle. And now, down 
the descent to the temple terrace. The soldiers, stationed at 
every point, are passed as shadows, and they are in the silent 
street ; waking to consciousness, he is alone. 

The moon has risen. The great lights from the temple 
courts throw their splendor far out over the sleeping city 
and the hills around, but so all unlike the brightness of that 



BIBLE SCENES. 53 

vanished glory, he knows his angel visitant has set him free, 
and it is the Master's will that he take up the burden of life 
again. The years stretch out before him, years of toil, and 
pain, and exile. He sees himself a feeble old man, far from 
friends, led out to a shameful death ; yet so will he be nearer 
and like his Lord. And now he must care for the life given 
back ; that, too, is his Master's will. He will relieve the friends 
that are grieving and praying for him ; but before the morning 
dawns he must be far away. 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 19. 

TT is a time of great persecution in the early church ; many- 
Christians have fled to distant cities. 

A young man bearing dispatches, with soldiers under com- 
mand, has journeyed for days over stony hills and desert plains, 
with here and there a glimpse of the sea ; and now a snow- 
capped mountain, the landmark of his mission, comes in view. 
The weary men pause to drink from a well at the opening of a 
beautiful valley; again they are upon the barren uplands, under 
the burning sky, held on their course by their tireless leader. 
They gladly welcome the first glimpse of the ancient city they 
are nearing, in its green enclosure of beautiful gardens — a city 
older than the Patriarchs, famed in the chronicles of Israel's 
Kings, noted by her greatest prophet as Israel's '' merchant in 
the multitude of its wares, in the multitude of all riches, in wine 
and wool." From oldest time to our day, it stands unchanged, 
the desert bulwark around it ; the same " river of gold " keep- 
ing its garden in constant verdure. 

Through these the white buildings now gleam in the noon- 
tide heat, for the hush of noon is over the city as the travellers 
draw near the gate. 

(54) 



BIBLE SCENES. 55 

What so alarms, stirs, bewilders them? An unseen hand 
arrests them. A glory from the opened heavens surrounds 
them. Their proud leader lies prostrate on the ground. He 
hears what they do not hear. He sees what they do not see. 
He rises subdued, remorseful, obedient. In utter darkness, 
trembling, helpless, he is led into the city. 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 20. 

A GRECIAN city famous in Roman history. Mingling with 
the crowds of Roman soldiers, citizens, and foreigners in 
its busy streets, are four men in the dress of an ancient but 
hated race. One, with the charm of youthful beauty and grace 
and culture. One, a much older man, with lines of thought and 
study in. his thin face. One seemingly born to command, but 
close in attendance upon the leader of the party, a small, nerv- 
ous man, with long, flowing, pointed beard, dark gray eyes 
shaded by contracted eyebrows, as if from defective sight ; a 
high, bald forehead, a face betraying quick change of feeling, 
and marked with deep lines of suffering. 

Outside the city little streamlets from the hillsides have met 
and mingled in a gently flowing river. On its banks is a small 
chapel, open to the sky. A few women have gathered there in 
the calm of a Sabbath morning for prayer. The four men enter, 
and to the eager listeners the leader tells the story of the Cross, 

and the first convert in Europe is gained for Christ. 
(56) 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 21. 

A CITY of granite, all within its vast enclosure of colossal 
masonry built of the same gray stone. Here, a Greek 
temple commands a view of the sea. There, open arches of im- 
mense size tell of Roman builders. 

In a large upper room of one of its homes, lighted by a pro- 
jecting window or balcony overhanging the street, many people 
are gathered ; a tender, sad, earnest look is on every counten- 
ance. It is evening before the Sabbath. A man of small, slight 
stature is addressing them ; his face is of the Greek type, betray- 
ing quick changes of feeling, forehead high and bald, bright 
gray eyes under thickly fringed eyebrows, and a long, flowing 
beard. 

On the morrow the vessel that is to bear him far away, it 
may be to death, will sail, and his friends are met to celebrate 
with him a parting feast of love and hear his farewell words. 
The night is dark, the moon but a faint crescent now, and many 
lamps are burning in the room. 

There is a sudden stir, a cry, a heavy fall. In confusion and 
alarm, lights are flashing here and there; then, a few quiet 

words from the preacher, and all is calm again. Now they 

(57) 



58 BIBLE SCENES. 

gather round the board, spread for refreshment, and the Eucha- 
ristic Feast. The day dawns, they cannot part, a few hours may 
be gained and the vessel met at another point. At last he is 
left alone, hastening through the oak woods now in full leaf; 
now along the Roman road, he enters the street of tombs 
leading to the shore, where the vessel lies at anchor in the 
Roads. 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 22. 

A BAND of prisoners, walking along the most famous and 
frequented of all the roads known for more than two thou- 
sand years ; each prisoner's right hand chained to that of a 
soldier on his left. 

First in this band is a feeble old man, laboring to keep step 
with his guard, who seems kindly to favor him. 

It is a warm spring day in that languid southern air, and 
the aged man has travelled thus for many days on foot. For 
weeks before he has been tossed upon a stormy sea ; then cast 
upon a rocky coast. 

Born to wealth and station among his own people, learned 
in their schools, a member of their highest court of judicature, 
in early manhood he had freely given up all for love of Christ, 
and lived a wanderer and a fugitive, laboring with his hands 
for support, spending the best years of his life in prison and 
exile ; exposed to hunger, cold, and heat ; often stoned and 
beaten by mob and priestly, law, yet still, with the persistence 
of a great love, telling his mission of mercy in all the great 
centres of the known world, everywhere gaining converts to 
his faith. And now he comes, as he had long desired, to the 

world's capital, but as a prisoner in chains. 

(59) 



6o BIBLE SCENES. 

The great road is thronged with crowds of every clime and 
rank. No kindly word or glance is given the weary old man. 
All are strangers ; even his friendly guard must soon leave 
him. He sees only a prison cell before him, and looks sad and 
downcast. 

They are now in the narrow streets of a small town ; through 
the motley crowd, the file of prisoners and soldiers slowly make 
their way. Suddenly, a cry of joy ! A group of eager men, 
waiting, watching there, have come the long forty miles from 
the great city to meet and welcome the atged prisoner. How 
they gather round him, his own children in the faith, for whom 
he had labored in the distant cities of the East. With renewed 
hope he thanks God and takes courage. 

The last rise of ground brings him in view of the city. A 
long line of blue mountains runs far out to the sea ; villas and 
gardens cluster at their base ; narrow roads lead to the vast 
mass of buildings twelve miles in circuit, with its millions of 
living souls. His heart is high, as he looks adown the years 
and sees churches planted, and heralds sent through all this 
region to tell the glad news of salvation through Jesus the 
Crucified, and the banners of the Empire blazoned with the 
image of the Cross. 

Does he see, in nearer vision, this Gospel preached through 
him to all the Gentile world ? Does he see his trial and release ; 
his years yet of travel and exile ; his return and martyrdom ? 
The long struggle of truth and error ; the '' mystery of iniquity " 



BIBLE SCENES. 6i 

holding rule alike in Pagan temple and Christian church? 
Does he see " the angel having the everlasting Gospel to preach 
to all that dwell on the earth," and hear the final acclaim, "The 
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord 
and of His Christ " ? 



BIBLE SCENE, No. 23. 

^1 rE are in Rome, this twenty-ninth of June, in the year of 
our Lord sixty-six. The fires of persecution still burn 
hotly against the Christian church, and the gardens of Nero 
are still lighted by her martyrs. 

Here, at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, near the Roman 
Forum, is a deep excavation in the rock, forming two cham- 
bers ; the upper, far below the surface of the ground ; the 
lower, entered only by a hole in the floor above ; floor, roof, 
walls, all of stone, hollowed out of the solid rock six hundred 
years before. 

Breathing the fetid air of this dungeon, that, seen by a 
taper's light, reveals slimy, noxious things, that fill one with 
horror, a prisoner has been for months confined, an old man of 
small and feeble frame, ever racked with pain. No change, no 
resting-place, no ray of sunlight, no breath of heaven's pure 
air; the cold, damp dungeon chills him to the heart ; but an 
inner warmth and light is there, that turns the shadow of death 
into the morning. 

To-day he is to be led out to a painful death, but the joy 

of that deliverance so soon to be his, fills heart and soul, as 

he sends his last message to his friends. A life ending in a 
(62) 



BIBLE SCENES. 63 

dungeon, a death that of a malefactor, but the message is the 
Coronation hymn of a victor about to receive his crown. 

At his trial, all forsook him ; no advocate ventured to plead 
his cause ; but then, as always, the Captain of the Lord's host 
stood by him. As seeing him who is invisible and strong in 
his strength, he had years before boldly proclaimed his faith in 
the courts of the Caesars ; he had unfolded the Gospel message 
to the crowd of philosophers on Mars Hill at Athens, and 
from the castle stairs at Fort Antonia preached to Jew and 
Gentile, Jesus and the resurrection. In his strength and for 
his sake, he had borne the scourge, the stocks, the violence of 
mobs, tedious journeys in cold and heat ; shipwreck, hunger, 
imprisonment, was hated and hunted by his own brethren, and 
now again he stands, deserted by his friend, the iron forms of 
the Roman soldiers about him ; judges, lictors, thousands of 
spectators, gazing upon one feeble old man, pleading his own 
cause. 

Acquitted on the first charge, he is again remanded to 
prison, to await sentence for his avowed faith. The months of 
imprisonment yet before him, the tortures that might await 
him, the martyrdom he must surely suffer, have few terrors for 
him ; but the human heart of the man longs for the friends 
now far away. One had sought and found him, and one — his 
loved physician, unmindful of fear or shame — is with him now. 
By his hand he has written his '' dearly beloved child in the 
faith," urging him to come with all speed that he may see his 



64 BIBLE SCENES. 

face once more. Is it too late ? May he not be in this crowd 
that follows the martyr and his executioners along the Ostian 
road, threading their way through the dust and tumult of the 
busy throng this midsummer day, out beyond the city walls ? 
In that crowd are many that love the grand old man. There 
is one Bishop of a church in Rome ; another, the son of a 
Roman senator, with his bride, the daughter of a British king ; 
his faithful physician is there, and many another his children 
in the faith ; but the tortures they have witnessed have struck 
terror into their otherwise true hearts. It matters not to the 
old man now. Hurried on, chained to a soldier on either side, 
he sees only his Lord, rejoicing to follow him even in death, 
" without the gate." 

The church in Heaven, to-day, welcomes the greatest victor 
that ever won the race ; the church on earth, to-day, had never 
such cause to weep, since her Lord himself was led through 
Calvary, to death. 



KEY. 

SCENE 1. — Christ as Melchizedek, meeting Abraham Gen. xiv. 
14-20. 

Compare Ps. ex. 4; David, in saying that Christ was after the 
Order of Melchizedek, " a Priest forever," must mean in respect to 
its eternity, for upon the eternity of Christ's Priesthood the whole hope 
of the Christian rests. 

Compare also Heb. v. 5, 6, and Heb. vii. 1-3, also 8th and 23d to 25th 
verses of the same chapter. Paul reasons that Christ could not have 
been a Priest after the Order of Aaron, because Aaron and the Priests 
succeeding him died. If Melchizedek died, how was he better than 
Aaron ? 

The meeting of Melchizedek with bread and wine, the emblems of 
Christ's human body, " broken for us," was at the very spot where, 2,000 
years after, baptized of John in Jordan, He was anointed as our High- 
Priest, by the Holy Spirit descending upon Him. Matt. iii. 13-17; see 
also John viii. 56. 

SCENE 2.— The second appearance of the Son of God as a 
Man to Abraham, and the destruction of the cities of 
THE Plain. Gen. xviii. and Gen. xix. 15-17, 27, 28. 

SCENE 3 —Moses and Miriam. Ex. ii. 1-4, xiv. 21-28, and xv. 20, 21. 

SCENE 4. — David in the Cave of Adullam. i Chron. xi. 15-19. 

SCENE 5. — Read Joshua, 2d chapter; iii. 14-17, and vi. 1-16, 25. 

SCENE 6. — Elijah. 2 Kings i. 6-8, also i Kings xvii. 5, 6, 9-16, xviii. 
19-38, and 2 Kings ii. 9-11. 

(65) 



66 KEY. 

Eight years after the translation of Elijah this writing was brought 
to Jehoram, King of Judah — 2 Chron. xxi. 12-15, ^9 I nine hundred years 
after — Matt. iii. 1-3. 

Part II. — Elisha. 2 Kings ii. 12-15, 23, 24 ; also iii. 9, 17, 20, 
iv. 42-44, and xiii, 20, 21. 

SCENE 7.— The Plain of Esdraelon, in or near which was the 
Vale of Megiddo. Rev. xvi. 16. 

Characters. — Jezebel, 2 Kings ix. 30-33 ; Deborah, Judges iv. 1-4, 
13-15, and Judges v. 20-22 ; Gideon, Judges vi. 1-5, and Judges vii. 1-8, 
16-22; Said, I Samuel xxviii. 4-8, 15-20, and i Samuel xxxi. 1-6, also 
2 Samuel i. 23-27 ; Josiah, 2 Chron. xxxv. 22-25 J Napoleon's march to 
Egypt. 

Part II.— Read 2 Kings iv. 8-37. 

SCENE a— Read Daniel, 3d chapter. 

SCENE 9.— Royal Palace in Shushan, Persia. 

Nehemiah, a Prince of the Tribe of Judah, born in captivity ; King 
Artaxerxes, the same as Ahasuerus ; Esther (a Jewess), his Queen. 

Read Nehemiah i. i and ii. 1-7, 9, 11-19; also iv. 16-20 and 
xii. 27-31, 38, 40. 

SCENE 10.— The Pathway between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. 
Abraham 2iXidi Isaac, Gen. xxii. 1-6; Jacob, Gen. xxxv. i, 16, 19; 
David, I Samuel xxii. i, 2; Solomon, i Kings x. 26; Joseph and Mary, 
Luke ii. 3-7 ; The I7ifa7it Christ, Mary and Joseph, Luke ii. 22 ; The 
Lord Christ, bearing His cross to Calvary. 

SCENE 11. — The House of Chimham, supposed to be the Inheritance 
of King David. See 2 Samuel xix. 33, 37, 38, and i Kings ii. 7. 
Salmon of the House of Judah and Rahab, see Matt. i. 4-6 — com- 
pare Numbers x. 14; Naomi dind Ruth, see Ruth i. 22 and iv. 13, 17; 
Samuel, see i Samuel xvi. i, 4, 10-17 ; David, i Chron. xiv. 17 and i Kings 



KEY. 67 

ii. 10; yeremz'aA XKxix. 14 and xli. 17, 18; T^e Infant Jesus, Luke ii. 
7-1 1. 

SCENE 12 (Bethlehem). — The Presentation of Christ in the 
Temple. Luke ii. 22-24 ; compare Haggai ii. 7 and Malachi iii. i. 

SCENE 13.— NicoDEMUS' night with Jesus. John ii. 13-16; Luke ii. 
41-47 ; John iii. i, 2, and xix. 26, 27. 
Zebedee, the father of John the disciple of Jesus, had a house in 
Jerusalem. 

SCENE 14.— Read John iv. 3-6. 

Abrahajn, Gen. xiii. 18 ; Christ as Melchizedek, and Abraha7n, Gen. 
xiv. 18-20; Jacob, Gen. xxxiii. 18-20; Joseph, Gen. xxxvii. 12-17, and 
Joshua xxiv. 32 ; Joshua, viii. 30-35, compare Deut. xxvii. 11-15 ; Woman 
of Samaria, John iv. 7-15. 

SCENE 15. — The Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, and Christ still- 
ing the storm. Mark ii. i, 2, and iv. i, 2, 34-41. 

He rebukes the winds, but quiets the frightened sea. 

The idea of Demons causing the tempests is expressed in a mosaic 
over one of the principal entrances of St. Peter's in Rome, executed in 
1298. It represents a ship with the disciples. The winds, personified as 
demons, storm against it. Christ stands on the ship in an attitude of 
command. 

SCENE 16.— The walk to Emmaus. Luke xxiv. 13-33- 

SCENE 17.— Read John xxi. 1-12. 

SCENE 18 (Tower of Antonia).— Peter's release from Prison. 
Acts xii. 1-12, 17. 
It is a tradition of the Early Church that through all Peter's after- 
life, from the night he denied his Lord, he rose every morning at the 
same hour, to pray for renewed forgiveness. 



68 KE Y. 

SCENE 19.— The Conversion of St. Paul. Acts ix. i-8. 

SCENE 20.— The City of Philippi. 

Timothy, Luke, Silas, Paul their Leader. 

SCENE 21.— Paul at Troas. Acts xx. 6-14. 

SCENE 22.— Paul a Prisoner, on the last stage of his first 
journey to Rome. Acts xxviii. 13-15, 28, 31. 

SCENE 23.— The Mamertine Prison in Rome, the day of Paul's 
MARTYRDOM. 2 Timothy iv. 6-8. 
2 Tim. iv. i6, 17 ; Onesiphorus, 2 Tim. i. 16; Luke, 2 Tim. iv. 11 ; 
Timothy, 2 Tim. iv. 9, 21 ; Linus, 2 Tim. iv. 21 ; Pudens and his wife 
Claudia, 2 Tim. iv. 21. 



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